Two weeks after his 16th birthday, Andrew started work in London’s Bond Street, working for The Antiques Roadshow expert Ian Harris.  He then joined the renowned contemporary jeweller Elizabeth Gage and worked with her on the design and production side.  Through her and her private collection, Andrew was able to see and handle rare and extraordinary stones with names such as Sphene, Andalusite, Spinel and Dioptase, many of which are far rarer than diamonds.  Elizabeth Gage was to have an enormous influence on Andrew's sense of what was possible within the realm of jewellery design.

Andrew's taste for fine 'costume jewellery' can be traced back to an antique market.  He realised that beautiful jewellery didn't require expensive stones, and that it was the elegance of the design and the quality of the workmanship that truly mattered.  Private commissions then started to trickle in.  The trickle turned into a flood, as celebrities such as Michael Jackson (a large crystal and pearl shoulder jewel) and Shirley Bassey (necklaces) were seen wearing Andrew's creations.

In 2002, the V&A commissioned a collection of jewels to accompany the resplendent Tiaras, Past and Present exhibition which became one of their most popular exhibits.  In 2005, he was asked to make tiaras and jewellery for Mrs Henderson Presents starring Judy Dench.  In 2009, pieces were commissioned for The Young Victoria starring Emily Blunt and Miranda Richardson.  In 2012, he was chosen by the creators of Downton Abbey to supply a large collection of jewellery for the third series.  The characters played by Maggie Smith, Shirley MacLaine, Elizabeth McGovern and Michelle Dockery were all adorned with elegant tiaras, combs, earrings and necklaces designed and created by Andrew Prince.

Following a career in teaching, Annalie spent several years working on education programmes at museums and literary houses across the UK, including the Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere; Wordsworth House in Cockermouth; Jane Austen’s House in Hampshire; and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.  At Jane Austen’s House, Annalie won two Sandford Awards for Excellence in Heritage Education; she also worked with the British Library, the Bodleian Library, and Chawton House Library in promoting Austen’s work to young people.

Annalie’s lectures focus on aspects of Romantic and Victorian literature.  She uses her knowledge and personal experience of literary houses - and their collections - to offer a unique perspective on writers and their works.  She is particularly interested in the material culture of writers’ lives, including the quirky and interesting; from the collar worn by Emily Bronte’s dog, Keeper, to William Wordsworth’s ice-skates.

I graduated from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth with a BA in history, formed a touring theatre company bringing new plays to audiences in rural Wales, was then employed for a year as an actor/writer with the Channel Theatre Company in Ramsgate, Kent, before giving up acting and becoming a cartoonist instead.

I have had work published in the UK and abroad, including the strip Clare in the Community which has been a weekly feature in The Guardian since 1996.  In 2016 I was awarded Strip Cartoonist of the Year by the UK Cartoon Trust.  I am also a Sony Award winning writer of radio comedy, including the shows Coach Karen’s Half Time Team Talk and Clare in the Community starring Sally Phillips, currently recording its twelfth series.

For the last ten years I have been performing my cartoon workshop Release Your Inner Cartoonist in its many different guises, to audiences as diverse as schoolchildren, business executives and festival goers.  I can’t draw hands or horses.

Jamie Hayes' background is in Opera and Opera production, having been professionally involved with it for many years at a major level.  He has also been a speaker on the subject for leading cruise ship companies such as Saga, Cunard and Fred Olsen.

He comes highly recommended as a thoroughly entertaining and engaging speaker.

Jacky Klein is an art historian, publisher, writer and broadcaster, specialising in modern and contemporary art.  After studying at Oxford University and the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, she worked as a curator at a number of leading galleries: Tate, the Barbican, the Courtauld and the Hayward.  In 2008, she moved sideways into the world of art publishing, first as Commissioning Editor at Thames & Hudson, then as Executive Editor at Tate Publishing and subsequently as Director of HENI Publishing, a small independent arts publisher.  She is the author herself of a bestselling book on British artist Grayson Perry (Thames & Hudson, 3rd edition 2020) and co-author of a number of other titles including Alfred Cohen: An American Artist in Europe (Ben Uri Gallery / Alfred Cohen Art Foundation, 2020), Body of Art (Phaidon, 2015) and What is Contemporary Art?, a children's guide to the Museum of Modern Art, New York, which has been translated into 11 languages.

Jacky has presented and contributed to a range of television programmes for the BBC, and is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's arts review programme, Front Row.  She has appeared on Channel 5, the Travel Channel and Bloomberg TV, and has written and presented a number of online films and livestreams for Tate, Christie's, HENI Talks and the Art Fund.  She regularly delivers digital talks including Zoom lectures, ‘Instagram Live’ events and Crowdcast broadcasts which have reached live audiences of many thousands of people across the world.  An experienced lecturer in museums, galleries and at literary festivals, she has taught at a number of arts institutions including University College London, Christie’s Education, the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Royal Academy of Arts.  A public and passionate advocate for the arts, she is a Trustee of the UK Association for Art History, and is currently Associate Lecturer at the Courtauld Institute on their Masters programme, 'Curating the Art Museum'.

Jo is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers and Freeman of the City of London.  Originally a trained singer, pianist and orchestra administrator, Jo is now a decorative artist who gilds antique lace and crochet, often combining with hand printing and painting.  She works to commission, sells through galleries and exhibitions and collaborates with other designers.

Jo trained in wood graining, marbling, gilding, specialist paint finishes and interior design and was awarded the City & Guilds Silver Medal for Excellence in 2000.  She taught in further education for 8 years on Art & Design National Diploma and Foundation courses then up-skilled at Central St Martin's College of Art & Design developing her own practice.  She now divides her time as a designer/maker, lecturer and tutor running workshops for specialist groups.

Mark is a writer, the founder of HouseHistree.com, and lectures regularly at societies, festivals and clubs in both Europe and the United States.  After leaving Stowe School, Mark worked for twenty years as a plumber in London.  However, his real passion has always been for history, particularly the history behind houses through the characters that conjoin to create them.  His special interest lies with the great American houses and their relationships with those in Europe, both socially and architecturally.

A Chartered Insurer by profession and a Fellow of the Assurance Medical Society, with extensive international experience as an author and lecturer in Medical Risk Assessment.  He has in excess of 25 years of working and living in Asia.  Whilst living in Hong Kong (1991-2004) he assembled a collection of approximately 700, predominately Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Imperial and related textiles/costume accessories.

Past Committee Member of the Hong Kong Textile Society and frequent speaker on Imperial Insignia and Badges of Rank, David can organise and lead Imperial Art Tours to China for Societies.  In late 2019 the Collection of Imperial Court Costume was acquired, in its entirety, by The Shanghai Museum, Peoples' Republic of China to be displayed in a the new annexe of the museum opening in 2021.

Rosalind achieved a BA and MA from Goldsmith’s College, and an MA (distinction) from Birkbeck College.  She is an experienced guide at Tate Britain, Tate Modern, the Royal Academy and Greenwich, and lectures at the Tate, to independent art societies and on cruises.  She also leads art appreciation holidays.

Tessa is a freelance lecturer for The Arts Society along with other organisations such as the V&A, English Heritage and the National Trust.  She’s the author of two books of social history: The Housekeeper’s Tale – The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House and Mrs Pankhurst’s Purple Feather – Fashion, Fury and Feminism, Women’s Fight for Change.  Her interest lies in uncovering stories of invisible women of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, revealing how they drove industry, propped up high society and manipulated politics.  Tessa has an MA in English Literature from Oxford University, a diploma in Art History from the British Institute of Florence, and has enjoyed a long career in journalism for national newspapers and magazines.

Dr Griffiths is a lecturer, conductor, pianist, and composer.  He is a Music Research Fellow (City, University of London) and DPhil., Musicology (Christ Church, Oxford, 2008), PGCE (Cambridge), and BMusHons (Edinburgh).

He is Musical Director Grupo Novo Horizonte de Sao Paulo (featured on BBCR3); lectures, concerts, and recordings (UK, Denmark, Brazil, Russia); Guest of The British Council; University lecturing at Bath, Bristol, Canterbury (Christchurch), City (London), Oxford.  Guest appearances at St Petersburg International Conservatoires Festival performing lost works by Leokadiya Kashperova (1872-1940) re-discovered by Griffiths.  This research featured in the BBCRadio3/AHRC celebration Five Forgotten Female Composers on International Women’s Day (8 March 2018).  Griffiths’s work has been featured by public service broadcasters in several countries.